


Glitter in the Air

by fanaticreader16



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - The Night Circus Fusion, Circus, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/F, Fluff, Inspired by The Night Circus, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-02-23 13:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23745610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanaticreader16/pseuds/fanaticreader16
Summary: Darcy’s cousin Jane is a fortune teller at the new circus that is in town and Darcy’s life is about to get so much more magical.The Night Circus AU no one asked for.
Relationships: Darcy Lewis/Wanda Maximoff
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17





	Glitter in the Air

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in the universe of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which is one of my absolute favorite books. I don’t think it’s necessary to have read that book to read this story, though (though I’d highly recommend it, it’s so amazing). I just kept picturing Wanda in the circus and this happened.
> 
> Also, all of the lines in italics are quotes from the book, I take zero credit for those or either of the universes I’m playing in. I tried not to spoil anything in the book with the quotes I chose, so hopefully I didn’t. The title of the story is a P!nk song.
> 
> Hope you like the story!

_The circus arrives without warning._

Darcy could picture with absolute clarity the first time she’d visited the circus. _Le Cirque des Rêves_. Her cousin Jane travelled with the circus as its fortune teller, and had met her husband, Thor (a strongman), working there too. Darcy didn’t know much about _The Circus of Dreams_ , but Jane had written to her that they were going to be in town and she absolutely had to come that night, and here’s a free pass to get in. Darcy would’ve gone anyways - Jane was always her favorite family member, and she’d take any excuse she could to get out of her house.

_No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not._

About a month after receiving Jane’s letter, people started talking about the circus that had shown up, seemingly overnight, in a field right outside of town, and wasn’t it strange that it was only open at night? Who had ever heard of a circus only being open at night? Darcy could hardly contain her excitement. She couldn’t tell you how she made it through that day, but after choking down her dinner she grabbed her pass to the circus from where she’d hidden it to keep it safe and practically ran to the field outside of town to the circus gates where she was met with the sign stating the circus would open at nightfall and close at dawn. Suddenly she wished she had had a chance to nap during the day, because she absolutely planned on staying until closing. Finally, night fell, the gates to the circus opened, and Darcy entered a new world.

_The towering tents are striped in white and black, no golds and crimsons to be seen. No color at all, save for the neighboring trees and the grass of the surrounding fields._

After that first night, Darcy knew she’d be visiting the circus every night it was in town. She’d been to other circuses, but none quite like this. It was set up in a circle, with acts in and outside of tents. There were the usual circusy things - acrobats, Jane the fortune teller, strongmen, and animal acts, but there were unique things, as well. Things she’d never seen at another circus - the most amazing contortionist she’d ever seen, an illusionist who Darcy would swear was doing real magic, a man who did extremely impressive and complicated tricks with a bow and arrow, a beautiful tightrope walker who gracefully danced across the rope and sometimes juggled knives while in the air (it was scarily erotic). The strongmen didn’t just lift things, they had a whole act (it was Thor and another super handsome blonde man and they made a friendly competition of trying to one-up each other), and there were tents of magnificent things (an ice garden, a cloud maze, and a merry-go-round unlike any other she’d ever been on). There was always something new to explore. No matter how much she thought she’d already seen, she kept finding herself stumbling upon new tents and attractions. She was able to visit Jane on her breaks, and even got to meet Jane’s husband (whoa). She soaked up everything she could when she was at the circus and dreamt of it during the day.

_Trespassers will be exsanguinated._

She decided to try visiting Jane during the day, since Jane was usually so busy at night. She also just couldn’t get enough of the circus; what would it hurt to go during the day? She walked out to the field and couldn’t help but think how odd the circus looked in the daylight. The black and white tents seemed almost drab without the small lights of the night lighting them up. The magic she felt at night wasn’t gone, exactly, but everything felt like it was holding its breath. She came to the fence and her heart sank, as she realized this was going to be a bit harder than she’d thought. That maybe she’d not thought this through as much as perhaps she should have. She walked the perimeter of the fence, grimacing a bit when she saw a sign about trespassers under the circus hours. Probably it wasn’t serious? She had to hope so. Or hope that at least Jane would speak up for her. She found a tree near enough to the fence on one side and shimmied up to a sturdy branch that would bring her near the top of the fence. She gave herself a pep talk and launched herself forward over the fence to the circus on the other side.

_The circus looks abandoned and empty._

She has never seen the circus look so deserted. At night it’s constantly full of people, from nightfall until dawn (oddly it never feels overcrowded - something she’s put down to the “magic” of the circus). On the inside of the fence, Darcy starts thinking of the stupidity of her plan again. She has no idea where Jane spends her time during the day, all the tents look the same right now, and since everything’s closed off, there’s not much to help her find her way through the circus like there would be at night, and she’s definitely getting lost.

_She is standing in the middle of the path between the tents, just standing there as though she is waiting…Every inch from her neck down is covered in white, which makes her red hair exceptionally shocking._

“Stupid,” she mutters to herself.

“Are you lost?” a slightly accented voice behind her asks.

Startled, Darcy whirls around and almost falls. A hand grasps her arm, steadying her.

“Sorry,” the girl in front of her blushes slightly, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Darcy caught her balance and looked to the girl in front of her and wondered how she’d never seen her at the circus before - in a circus of black and white, this girl surely would’ve stood out with her beautiful red hair. Actually, everything about her was beautiful. Darcy found herself just staring at the girl. Finally, the girl’s brow furrowed slightly, and Darcy realized that maybe she’d been staring too long.

Feeling the heat in her cheeks, she finally found her tongue, “I’m the one who should be apologizing - I did break in, in a sense. I mean, I kind of jumped the fence? First I had to climb a tree, though, and then I jumped over. And the sign you guys have out front is kind of terrifying? You don’t really exsanguinate people who trespass, do you? I just wanted to come visit Jane, but I didn’t think anything through. Clearly.” She snapped her mouth shut to make herself stop talking.

Fortunately the girl in front of her looked amused at Darcy’s rambling.

“The sign was Tony’s idea. He’s our engineer slash circus master, I guess? He builds most of the attractions. But no, we’ve never followed through. Although, that could be because the sign is usually enough to keep people away…” she trailed off with a shrug and a raised brow to Darcy.

“Well, I very clearly wasn’t thinking. Oh, gods, this is not how I want to die. Is there any way I can see Jane? Should I just leave?”

The girl giggled, and Darcy swore it was the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard. “Jane is currently sleeping, I believe. You are the cousin she keeps talking about, yes?”

Darcy slapped her hand against her forehead, “Wow, I’m an idiot, didn’t even introduce myself! Yes, I’m Darcy,” she held her hand out to shake. The hand that met hers was gloved, something Darcy wasn’t sure how she hadn’t noticed before, since it had kept her from falling.

“Pleasure to meet you, Darcy, I am Wanda.”

_He thinks, also, that by simply wandering the circus he might improve his chances of happening upon the red-haired girl._

After that meeting, Darcy found she was looking forward to the circus that night for multiple reasons, and surprisingly Jane wasn’t at the top of the list. Darcy really wanted to find Wanda and get to know her more. She knew it wasn’t likely - if she hadn’t seen Wanda at the circus before, the odds were slim that she’d be able to find her now, or that Wanda would have time to hang out with Darcy, Jane was certainly kept busy each night. Still, she hoped. When she got to the circus she decided to just wander around and see if she could find any new tents she hadn’t been in before (she definitely wasn’t looking for the red-haired girl, absolutely not) and that she would visit Jane later after meandering for a bit. She got some caramel popcorn from a vendor near the entrance and slowly made her away along the winding paths, enjoying the fairy lights strung above her and the faint noises coming from every tent she passed by, but not stopping in any just yet - none were pulling her attention quite yet. As she turned a corner, she came across a small crowd just off the path. Her view was slightly blocked by a tall man in front of her, but she heard clapping as something happened - it was clearly one of the smaller acts that took place outside of the tents. Finally, she was able to work her way past all the tall people in front of her (curse her shortness), and when she got past them, her breath caught in her throat - it was Wanda. She and a boy who looked to be her same age were doing an act that seemed to involve kittens jumping from their shoulders through hoops and performing super impressive tricks (like somersaults in mid-air) and being caught by the other person. Darcy was suitably impressed - she’d never seen such talented kittens before. Her attention, however, kept being stolen by the red-haired beauty. Darcy managed to catch her eye at one point and the smile she received was blinding, making her blush. The act finished with everyone involved (including the kittens?) taking a bow. Before Darcy could approach the performers, though, a group passed in front of her and when she finally got past them, they were gone.

_They speak with the ease of people who have known each other for years, and the excitement of new friends with new stories._

Darcy’s heart sank. She couldn’t believe she missed her. Just as she was turning to go visit Jane, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned and saw red hair attached to a gorgeously smiling face.

“Hello again, Darcy.”

“Hi!” Darcy winced; was she too enthusiastic? Fortunately, Wanda didn’t seem bothered or weirded out. “I was hoping I’d find you tonight, but wasn’t sure if I would. I’ve come to the circus every night you guys have been in town, but earlier today was the first time I’ve seen you.”

Wanda smiled, “I knew you’d be coming and made sure our act was somewhere you’d find us.”

Darcy was slightly confused by that statement, but let it pass. She was too excited to be talking to Wanda to question it. She then noticed the boy from the act standing at Wanda’s shoulder. Wanda followed Darcy’s gaze.

“Oh Darcy, this is my brother, Pietro.”

Darcy smiled and held out her hand, “Nice to meet you, Pietro.”

His face lit up with a handsome smile and shook her hand, “You too, Darcy. I’ve heard quite a bit about you.” He smirked at his sister, who was blushing at his comment. “Would you like to explore the circus with us?”

Darcy, pleased Wanda had apparently been talking about her, agreed immediately and spent the rest of the night (in between the twins’ remaining kitten acts) walking around the circus with Wanda and Pietro. She discovered that they did the act for fun, but that Wanda was also adept at reading people and claimed she could sometimes see things about people’s lives when she looked at them, so sometimes she filled in for Jane as the fortune teller (Darcy decided to take that at face value - the whole circus was magical, why wouldn’t someone be able to see things like that?) and that when Pietro wasn’t doing their act or hanging out with his sister, he sometimes joined the bow and arrow act - apparently Pietro had super fast reflexes and could grab arrows straight out of the air or beat them to the target (this was a little harder to believe - surely there were some sort of effects involved there?). Conversation flowed easily between the three of them - they never had any issues with awkward silences. And when Pietro decided to go bother some of the other acts (his words, and he was apparently specifically bothering Clint, the bow and arrow guy), Darcy giddily soaked up all of Wanda’s attention and learned as much as she could about the other girl. Before Wanda left for her last act with her brother and the kittens, Wanda gave Darcy a chaste kiss on the lips. By dawn, Darcy was sure she was in love.

_You think, as you walk away from Le Cirque des Rêves and into the creeping dawn, that you felt more awake within the confines of the circus._

Darcy knew the circus wouldn’t be in town much longer - it had already been there for two weeks, and Jane said they didn’t stay places longer than that. Two weeks of meeting with Wanda and Pietro (but increasingly just Wanda, as Pietro kept finding excuses to leave them alone) and wandering the circus. The twins showed her amazing tents she’d never seen before, they shared snacks, and talked about everything and nothing. Darcy was growing more and more sure that the circus was where she wanted to be. She didn’t want to ever leave this magical place that felt more like home than her actual house ever did. She loved seeing Jane consistently, and had grown closer to Thor, as well. And then, of course, there was Wanda. Darcy had fallen hard and fast for the other girl, and she was pretty sure Wanda felt the same. She decided to ask Jane how she could become part of the circus. Jane smiled knowingly and directed her to Tony, who, once she finally got him to respondto her questions, asked what she could do. Darcy, sensing Tony really didn’t like this part of his job, waxed lyrical about her people and organizational skills, and offered to be his assistant, dealing with the more human aspects of the circus so he could focus on keeping everything running. Tony agreed immediately and told her the train was leaving when the circus closed at dawn. Darcy couldn’t contain her happiness and when she told Wanda the news, she received a blinding smile and a celebratory kiss. She couldn’t wait to see where this adventure would take her.

_You are no longer certain which side of the fence is the dream._

**Author's Note:**

> A couple of things - Wanda and Pietro’s kitten act is borrowed from the book, although, you can decide if Wanda’s using her powers to help the kittens do their tricks. Also, the “unique” tents and the merry-go-round are also directly from the book, as this story takes place in the book’s world. 
> 
> And I don’t know where Bruce is in this. By the end I realized I had tried to mention every Avenger except him, and then couldn’t figure out how to fit him in. Sorry, Bruce!
> 
> Hope you liked it!


End file.
